United States President Donald Trump has threatened legal action against the BBC after the UK broadcaster admitted an “error of judgement” in its editing of a speech made in 2021.
In the letter sent on Sunday and seen by Reuters, Trump’s lawyers said the BBC must retract its documentary by Friday or face a lawsuit for “no less” than $1 billion.
The letter also demanded that the BBC issue an apology and compensate Trump for what it said was “overwhelming reputational and financial harm”.
The documentary, which aired on the BBC’s flagship Panorama news programme, spliced together three video excerpts from the president’s speech, creating the impression he was inciting the January 6, 2021, riot.
His lawyers said this was “false and defamatory”, adding that the BBC also left out parts of the speech in which Trump said he expected his supporters to march “peacefully and patriotically”.
BBC DG, news CEO resign over Trump documentary edit
The supporters backed an effort to prevent Congress from certifying Democrat Joe Biden’s presidential election victory over Trump.
The revelation about the speech and wider criticism of BBC News have plunged the broadcaster into crisis, resulting in the resignations of Director General Tim Davie and Chief Executive of News Deborah Turness on Sunday.
BBC Chair Samir Shah on Monday apologised for the editing of the footage, but he rejected claims of systemic bias in the broadcaster’s reporting.
Shah said the BBC was considering how to respond to the legal threat.
A BBC spokesperson said the broadcaster would “respond directly in due course”.
The documentary is no longer available on the BBC’s iPlayer video-on-demand service.
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